Hands on with Wreckless: The Yakuza Mission

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We got our grubby little paws on the coolest Xbox game yet!

By IGN Staff

Hop into your Delorean or (for those with a love of all things Barbie) your pink dune buggy and put the pedal to the floor. I've been playing Wreckless: The Yakuza Mission all day and I have to say, it's my favorite Xbox title to date. The game is just dripping with fun. Wreckless asks you to perform senseless violence (is there such a thing as sensible violence?) with one of over a dozen cars. You don't have guns, just your car to abuse, bashing into just about anything in your path. Almost everything you see can be run into and crushed.

The game is DAMN pretty. Yes, the graphics are so phenomenally beautiful they require minor swear words to describe. The game runs fast and smooth with real-time lighting effects on everything. Sunlight reflects off office windows and sparkles on the water. The enormous city looks as real as I've ever seen in a game. I can't possibly hype up the graphics enough. Oddly, the cut-scenes aren't nearly as well rendered. But you won't be gawking at the cut-scenes for long anyway, the real game is in the streets.

Missions vary from simple things like chasing down Yakuza cars and crashing into them till they go boom to hunting down and destroying various Dim Sum stands throughout the city. Wreckless is mostly about bashing things with your car. And man is that fun. I cannot get enough of driving along the sidewalk, watching frightened pedestrians run for their lives as I take out mail boxes, fire hydrants, and pesky guard rails. The physics are realistic. You can feel the bumps as you climb the stairs with your old school taxi. As you crash your way through Hong Kong, your car takes damage. It won't be long before you're without a hood, doors, or trunk. No matter how much abuse you place on your car, it will never blow up, never die, never surrender. So smash away!

Controls for Wreckless are as simple as can be. Right Trigger for gas, Left Trigger for brake, B to kick it into reverse, and the Left Analogue to steer.

Wreckless has over a dozen cars to play with. The coolest that I've uncovered is the Delorean. It's got rockets on the back, just as it appeared in Back to the Future. I haven't figured out how to go back in time yet, but I'll keep trying till I'm back in wonderful 1985. Other cars include a tank, an armored dune buggy, and a Hong Kong-style police car.

Did I mention one of the characters you play looks like Elton John? There's nothing like tooling along in a Delorean with Sir Elton sitting shotgun. Especially since none of his crappy music plays during the game. Instead you get a techno beat that works well with the feel of the game. The game has some mad style, with replays that are worth watching. Several different types of cameras switch back and forth during replays. At one moment you are watching a grainy black and white video and the next the view's switched to an infrared camera and finally to a crisp view. It may sound a bit weird, but it makes for an entertaining replay.

I strongly suggest you budget fifty bucks for Wreckless. Skip a meal a day for a week if you have to. Search through the cushions of your couch for wads of cash or even a few pennies. Every bit will help. You're gonna want this game. Look for our full review next week.